After five months of absence, the director of the Focus theater group, Daniel Martínez de Obregón, has reappeared on the stage of the Goya theater to deliver very good news. The first, that the group will open a new theater in Barcelona, ??and the second, the very good figures from last season, in which they have broken records.
Having just turned 75, the soul of Focus has announced this new educational project and theater venue, which will be located at the group’s headquarters in Poblenou. Its name will be Genesis, in homage to the founding company of the group.
Regarding the figures for the 22-23 season, he has spoken of “total recovery of the activity, with 413,000 viewers and more than 9 million collections, which represent 20% and 30% respectively over the figures of the previous year”.
With 347 performances per theater on average, there have been 14 productions, 15 co-productions and a budget of 14 million. “We offer theaters as islands of decompression,” he has declared.
Playing with and questioning artificial intelligence, which has turned the Goya theater into the Naked Maja, Focus has also presented the programming of its four Barcelona theaters for the 23-24 season. The general director of art and content of the group, César Martínez, has been in charge of “dialogue” with Alèxia, a kind of AI that he did not guess correctly.
The vice president of Focus, Jordi González, as well as the directors of the other three rooms, Daniel Anglès (Condal), Josep Maria Pou (Romea) and Tania Brenlle (La Villarroel), have summarized the shows that their theaters will exhibit, in a balanced between new proposals and reruns of highly successful works from recent seasons.
Among the novelties, Julio Manrique directs Love, love, love, in reference to the first song broadcast via satellite (La Villarroel); Ramon Madaula presents Conqueridors, directed by Josep Maria Mestres (Goya); Héctor Claramunt and Joel Joan return with Escape Room 2 (Condal); T de Teatre premiere La dona fantasma (Romea); Joan Pera will arrive at Christmas with All the year can be Christmas (Condal), Pau Carrió will direct Elling (La Villarroel) and the spirit of George A. Romero will take over Paral·lel with La noche de los muertos vivientes ¡LIVE! (County).
Josep Maria Flotats directs and stars in Voltaire / Rousseau La dispute (Romea); Lluís Homar and Adriana Ozores will interpret Alma y palabra (Romea); Belén Rueda will be Salomé (Goya); Carlos Hipólito will star in Burro (Romea); Carmelo Gómez draws Las guerras de nuestros antepasados, by Miguel Delibes (Goya); Pep Tosar will present the show Amb la claredat augmenta el fred (Romea) and the company La Zaranda returns with Manual para amar un sueño (Romea)
If you haven’t seen them yet, it’s time to enjoy the reruns of shows endorsed by critics and the public, such as the extraordinary monologues by Joan Carreras, ‘Història d’un senglar’ (La Villarroel), and by Pere Arquillué, ‘The most beautiful body that will ever be found in this place’ (Romea). Likewise, Clara Segura returns with ‘La trena’, the piece based on the novel by Laetitia Colombani (Goya), Julio Manrique and Sergi Pompermayer with ‘América’ (La Villarroel), Sergi Belbel and Emma Vilarasau with ‘Lali Symon’ (Romea ), the endearing musical by Jumon Erra, Daniela Feixas and Miquel Tejada ‘Un amor particular’ (Condal), and Marc Artigau with the delicious ‘L’illa deserta’ (La Villarroel).
In the final parliament, in addition to the good news already mentioned, Daniel Martínez de Obregón has revealed to the theater professionals who have attended the act the secrets of “artificial intelligence”. On the one hand, this Alèxia was embodied by a flesh and blood actress, Alèxia Pascual (Eufòria). And on the other, live music performed by five musicians hidden at the back of the stage. An agile and fun act, which has valued the craftsmanship of the theater and which has honored the group’s objective: to offer quality entertainment.
